moot point – this space intentionally left blank

Another music project of mine! Get it here!

mootpoint.bandcamp.com

mootpoint.bandcamp.com

mootpoint.bandcamp.com

Summer of Wub ’10

Hello TCOB fans and Behringer RV600 review-seekers. The past few months have been super crazy, what with TWO trips to Belgium and getting prepared for chasing a graduate degree and moving and finding a new job and getting better at everything and *hyperventilate*

But! I’ll be back soon to write more words about sounds. Soon!

Electric Questioner Cooperative – Empty Quotation Casino

Hey!

Here’s a link to a one-take rock album I played on for the 2010 RPM Challenge.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=bcf630e7edb353b8ab1eab3e9fa335ca41204f11e98449ee

Tortoise – TNT

Tortoise – TNT (1998)

Virtually every post-rock fan from the mid-90s onward has heard of  Tortoise. The shifting group arguably set the stage for the post-rock scene from their debut, Tortoise, in 1994. Tortoise set off with a surprisingly organic mix of dub, minimalist, electronic and angular jazz styles and crafted some truly excellent instrumental music.

TNT is a textbook example of a timeless album. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was released in 1978 rather than 1998. Likewise, it sounds so fresh and inspiring, just as if it were tracked earlier this year. Each of the 12 tracks features some combination of multilayered guitars, drums, marimbas, horns, synths, deep bass and various other noises but without overwhelming the listener. Quite the opposite. Each passage is distinct and clear and every tune has a standout and catchy melody or concept, making TNT a total thrill to hear every time.

To clue you in on Tortoise‘s sound circa 1998, I’d say they’re something like post-rock jazz/modern progressive swing with a very small taste of dance influence on a few tunes. Don’t let the dance tag turn you away, though. There are many artists out there who have discovered exactly how to do dance music right (French duo Justice). And putting the dance tag on Tortoise is likely going too far; these guys can lay down very danceable beats, but they’re rather mellow and quirky most of the time on TNT. Other albums, notably Standards, show off more of  Tortoise’s post-rock capabilities. Anyone familiar with Tortoise will probably think I’m nuts, but I hear dance in there!

On TNT‘s tunes: I want to delve into each one, but I won’t give too much away. There’s reggae/dub, spacey guitarwork and a take on the standard call-and-response on The Equator; a twangy spaghetti Western-inspired soundscape on I Set My Face To The Hillside; melodic interplay, synthy bass blasts and fluttery Fender guitars drenched in tremolo on The Suspension Bridge at Iguazu Falls; and a dreamy album closer with Everglade, complete with picked harmonics, vibraphone, clattery drums and some of the sweetest bass riffs I’ve ever heard. TNT is one of a select few albums I can listen to through the last second — and I have no problem spinning it again.

Head over to YouTube and sample a few tunes from TNT, then buy it. User Kerakao has a good selection of stuff up at the time of this post. Here’s Suspension Bridge.

TNT is simply incredible and by far one of the best intstrumental albums ever recorded. This is desert island material from start to finish. If you listen to only one album I’ve recommended, make it this one.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Interview with Eric Kesner of TCOB

[dis] What’s your take on the dark ambient genre? It seems a little esoteric or
self-indulgent when you describe ambient music to someone accustomed to more
radio-friendly material.

[Eric] Well to start off, I very rarely listen to ambient or dark ambient music.
There are people who do some really interesting stuff but for me it’s not
something that I listen to too much. I have to be in the right mood for it
to work for me.

When I describe my music to someone, who you know is not going to know what
ambient or dark ambient is, I usually just say it’s sort of soundtrackish.
Like something you’d hear in a movie based in outer space or underwater.

As far as my take on the dark ambient genre I would go with esoteric but I
don’t really see self-indulgent.  To me, the term self-indulgent is really
negative.  I don’t think you can call a whole genre of music
self-indulgent.  Possibly certain people who create the music might be but
that’s a whole different story.  I’d say there would be self-indulgent
people creating all forms of music.  Maybe I’m self-indulgent and that’s why
I have such a negative reaction to the term?

How do you approach songwriting? Is it fully improvised or is there a
structure or theme you create beforehand? What inspires you to write music
and in what capacity do you wish your audience would hear your music?

Starting out I used to have ideas of what something would sound like but by
the time I got half way done it was way off in another direction.  There are
a few occasions where I have a thought for a piece and work towards that but
the majority of my stuff I would say is sort of a journey and I just go
where ever it takes me.  Not to sound all mystical and corny but I think
that’s a good explanation of how I record my stuff.

What inspires me?  I would say it’s usually other music.  If I hear
something that really hits me I’ll get really inspired to record.  And that
usually happens while I’m taking a bath for some reason.  I should probably
take more baths because I haven’t recorded anything new in a really long
time.

I think the best way to listen to my music is probably just hanging out with
headphones on.  There’s a lot going on in each track.  I’m just always
blown away and happy whenever someone is listening to my stuff.  I still get
shocked when people email me and tell me that they listen to my music and
they really like it or it’s done something for them.  I never expected
people to want to listen to TCOB but there’s a small audience out there
which is still just crazy to me.

I would say the most popular musician with whom I could compare your music
and concepts is Brian Eno. Does he play a role in your sound? What are some
of your influences?

That’s a very huge compliment.  I don’t even know what to say to that.  I
knew Brian Eno from Roxy Music but I actually didn’t know about Brian Eno’s
ambient work or any “ambient” music until a few years after I started
recording.  The only thing that I ever bought from Eno is “Music For
Airports” which is beautiful.  When I started recording I was all about
repetition and to hear that first track on MFA was really great.  Just the
minimalism and the repetition was what I was all about.  When I heard it, I
thought he had balls for putting something out like that.  Something that
you know the majority of people aren’t going to get.  Musically, it’s very
simple but the idea behind it was genius.  Minimal and Repeat.  I haven’t
really listened to enough Eno to say he’s played a role in my sound.

My influences are bands like My Bloody Valentine, Bowery Electric, Windy &
Carl, King Tubby, Pole, Cocteau Twins, Flying Saucer Attack, early
Pink Floyd.  Low was a big influence early on just because they were creating their own thing.
Music that was really, really slow and they would play this stuff out live
and there would be people who would get it and there were people who would
get pissed and it didn’t affect the band.  They did this music and didn’t care
what anyone thought about it. So not only the ultra slow pace of the music
was influential but the attitude they had about creating music.  Of
course I could be way off base and Low went home and cried every
night.

What’s a live show like? Do you do collaborations with other artists or are
you primarily solo?

I really love playing live.  Shows always seem to go over really well for
me.  Maybe because they see a guy with a guitar on stage and it sounds
nothing like a guitar so it’s fascinating for them.  I remember in 1996, I
saw Windy & Carl and had no idea who they were.  I thought they were a folk
duo with a name like that.  But when they started to play my jaw hit the
floor.  I’d never heard a guitar sound like that and I was just shell
shocked.  So I think maybe there’s some of that.  People standing there
trying to figure out what’s going on?  Live, the sound is not as dark as the
studio stuff.  It’s much more ethereal.  I’m actually playing my first show in
about a year in a couple days and I’m trying to come up with some
ideas to make it more interesting.

I’ve done a couple collabs but it’s mostly just me.  I played with Ben
Fleury-Steiner from Gears Of Sand a couple years ago which was a lot
of fun.  A friend of mine, Nick Bradley from the band Lake and Oceans
and I are trying to get something going with myself on guitar, him on
guitar or bass and a drummer which would
be a lot of fun.

What’s your guitar setup? Feel free to go into as much or as little detail
as you want.

I just looked at my set up and I’m actually kind of shocked and
embarrassed for some reason that I have six delay pedals.  A Loop
Station, a little Wah in some stuff I do, some Reverb, sometimes some
Pitch Shifter.  I think that’s it?

Besides music, what else occupies your time?

Well I have four kids so that takes up a LOT of time.  Could be why I
put out an album every six years.  I love to play basketball.  I just
started going back to school this semester which has been interesting.
And I’m always searching for new music and going record shopping.

______

Big thanks to Eric for the interview.

True Colour of Blood – All Of The True Things I’m About To Tell You Are Lies

True Colour of Blood – All Of The True Things I’m About To Tell You Are Lies (2008)

Dark ambient is a peculiar genre of music. Generally, it involves extended sections of sound that capitalize on a texture, tone or concept with very little movement. Atmosphere is the name of the game; certainly not not traditional rock song structure or radio-friendly lyricism. The best musicians in this vein are able to pull off creepy movie soundtrack tunes without coming off as cheesy or conjuring images of trick-or-treaters. Thankfully, All Of The True Things I’m About To Tell You Are Lies is a well-crafted and hypnosis-inducing album that ambient music fans will enjoy.

Lies opens with the sparse but dense Upon These Shores, a 4-minute track that could serve as an introduction to ambient music as a whole. First-time ambient listeners will notice each track melts and blends into each other, so the roughly 75 minute album comes off as one large piece with several large movements — one aspect of ambient albums I love. What makes any body of atmospheric music worth experiencing is a variety of sound. Lies delivers. The 16-minute track Of has some truly ethereal, subtly swirling soundscapes; Once Was Blind But Now I’m Deaf is a little harsher with yawning choral sounds; the titular ending track is surprisingly upbeat and reminiscent of a darker Saxon Shore. OK, not that upbeat.

It likely goes without saying, but if you’re new to ambient music, don’t expect musical hooks or even an underlying beat. Lies is stark and minimalist from beginning to end. According to TCoB’s Myspace page, guitarist Eric Kesner relies solely on guitars to create massive, pad-like walls of reverberating sound — an accomplishment worth noting in 2010, where an iPod is capable of producing dance beats and recreating sounds of old synths. I do suspect some digital trickery in a few tracks, notably the second track’s random blasts of white noise…unsettling and unexpected while wearing headphones, to say the least.

Succinctly: Lies is an extremely patient and deliberate exploration of sound a la Brian Eno on tranquilizers. Not nearly as dark as the title would suggest — I’d wager Lustmord and Tim Hecker are much darker — but perfectly at home on a dreary winter day with a book.

Get a taste of TCoB at its Myspace page.

Happy 2 ▫ 0 ▫ 1 ▫ 0

And the prize for the latest well-wishing for a new year goes to me! My last checkup/post on this blog was near the end of July, 2009. Goodness. So much music and general news upon which to catch! I’ve got album reviews, the NST feature and who knows what else.

If anyone out there is reading, leave a comment and perhaps an album you want me to hear and/or review. Next up will be True Colour of Blood, because I promised them some action way back when.

Oh! My girlfriend and I made sushi for the first time last night. Tips: Don’t bone the rice recipe. Prep all the veggies, meats and sauces while the rice cooks. And for god’s sake, get a bamboo mat. It was still delicious!

Springtime

I’ll get back into the swing of things soon. I’ve become a lazy and blog-neglecting sack since Februrary or so. Meanwhile, here are some videos that are totally suck-proof.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b3Y6-2T4FI

http://www.vimeo.com/2264687

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvg5t3eIkNE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdRP3dQ9QOM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VqMh2ckyAg

NIN and Boris, in concert.

I don’t have any words that can convey tonight’s experience. Just get a ticket and go if you haven’t already.